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A comment on Just how smart is an octopus?. Parent comment

Re:Just how smart is an octopus? by Falling3 on Monday January 09, 2017 @03:26PM (#13359483)
Sentience is the line I and many others use to make that distinction.

Although there is a gray area the closer to the line you get (insects for example), that does not diminish the fact that we can say with high degree of certainly are sentient (cows) and are not sentient (wheat).

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Re:Just how smart is an octopus? by dragonwriter on Monday January 09, 2017 @03:33PM (#13359530)
There's considerable evidence that plants are sentient by the usual external functional definitions (the traditional internal "subjective experience" definition is not directly testable), which is why some vegans have adopted structural standards regarding distinct "sense organs" so as to keep sentience restricted to animals.
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Re:Just how smart is an octopus? by Falling3 on Monday January 09, 2017 @03:38PM (#13359570)
What would you say are the "usual functional definitions"? The only evidence I'm aware of that gets distorted into an argument for plant sentience is that plants are able to respond to their environment, which is a feature of all living organisms.
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